


Ficlet 22

by A_bit_not_good_yeah, deadonarrival



Series: Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key [23]
Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Sentiment, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 17:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17165921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_bit_not_good_yeah/pseuds/A_bit_not_good_yeah, https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadonarrival/pseuds/deadonarrival
Summary: First meeting, fluff





	Ficlet 22

Every relationship starts with a first moment.

It’s summer. Aidan has just moved to town and he’s starting his research fellowship because he got a special grant to start before the semester begins. He doesn’t officially start til Monday but he wants to check out where he’ll be working in more depth. So he goes up to his building on campus and he’s exploring, checking out offices, getting lost in the labyrinthine tunnels of the basement and trying to find his lab space. Finally spotting a hallway that looks promising, he turns down that way, and he’s so busy looking to his right, reading the numbers on the doors to figure out where he is, that he walks right into Dean, who’s just coming out of his office on the left. Full-blown collision, with spilled coffee and papers everywhere. 

“OH MY GOD I’m so sorry!” Aidan is falling all over himself, kneeling and trying to pick up the papers that are rapidly turning brown as they soak up the spilled coffee. 

Dean is just shaking his head, “No it’s ok I should have looked where I was going-”

“Please let me–”

“It’s fine really, I–”

And Aidan looks up at him with the saddest puppy dog eyes, these ridiculous deep pools of chocolate brown and he looks so pathetic that Dean is actually laughing. “Hey, really, it’s ok. My students are used to coffee stained papers–half of them turn them *in* with coffee stains. They won’t be able to tell a difference." 

"Are you sure? Oh god and your shirt,” Aidan groaned because there’s now a Canada-shaped stain on Dean’s white Oxford. “Let me get you–fuck, I don’t know where the toilets are." 

Now Dean’s really laughing, full, whooping laughs, and Aidan claps a hand over his mouth when he realizes that he just cursed in front of one of his brand new colleagues.

"Oh god. I’m just. I’m so sorry. I should just leave and never come back shouldn’t I? Haven’t even started work yet and I’ve already made a complete ass of myself.” His eyes are wide and he’s blushing, clearly wishing to disappear.

“It’s fine. Really. I’m Dean O'Gorman. Can I at least know the name of my attacker?” He held out his hand and Aidan took it.

“Aidan Turner. Wait…you’re Dr. O'Gorman?” He dropped Dean’s hand and took a step back in shock.

“Please, call me Dean. Or Professor, if you’re more comfortable. But yeah, that’s me. Is that…bad?”

“No, I just–I just read your article this week. It was brilliant. And to be published in–”

“Yeah,” Dean sort of shrugged offhandedly. “That one’s been taking off lately. I’m glad you read it. That should help when we get started on your research on Monday. I knew I recognized your name. I’ll be in lab with you, so let me know if you need anything,” he smiled warmly. 

Dean is charmed by how flustered Aidan is, because he remembers his own first day jitters. He might just also be charmed by Aidan. The Irish accent caught him off guard, but it softens Aidan’s angular features–he’s got these thick eyebrows and a long, straight-lined nose that would make him look somber if it weren’t for those soft eyes, and that plush lower lip…

What are you doing thinking about his lips?? he berated himself, and shook his head to bring himself back to present. He had missed the last thing Aidan had said. “Sorry, I was miles away. What was that?”

Aidan cleared his throat. “I just uh…I was looking for the lab? And there’s probably a sink in there, I can um, help you clean this up?" 

Dean smiled, "Of course. It’s actually just down here. Really though, don’t worry about it. Black coffee isn’t a rarity around here–you’ll just have to owe me one, ok?”

Monday comes and Aidan is the first one in the lab, bright-eyed and eager. Two more grad students shuffle in a little later and they make small talk until Dean and another professor come in to walk them through the equipment on hand and bring them up to speed on their ongoing project. Only after releasing them to do some independent exploration does Dean notice the cup sitting on the desk at the front of the room. 

It’s a large black coffee from the cart upstairs, still hot, and someone has written ‘Dean’ and under that ’(Professor)’ on the side. Underneath the cup, there’s a folded piece of paper with a ten dollar bill inside. When Dean unfolds the paper, he reads what’s written there: “good for one free dry cleaned shirt.”

Grinning, he looks over at Aidan, who is talking animatedly with another student. Aidan seems to feel his eyes on him and looks up to catch his gaze with a wry smirk. Dean feels a quick twist in his gut at that look, and takes his coffee back to his office to avoid further distraction. 

On their first anniversary, after the beach and the dinner and the dancing and lots of sex, Dean reaches into his bag and pulls out a small, plain brown package and throws it onto Aidan’s lap.

“What? Babe, you already—” and Dean shushes him as Aidan tears into the wrapping. “It’s just. It’s nothing, really. First anniversary is paper, so I just thought—”

But the rest of Dean’s sentence is swallowed when Aidan pulls him into a kiss, knocking the torn wrappings off his lap onto the bed, while he curls his fingers around the modest silver picture frame containing the $10 bill and the note he left.


End file.
